


Gone

by waddiwasiwitch



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-06-23 12:37:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15606456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waddiwasiwitch/pseuds/waddiwasiwitch
Summary: It’s only just hitting Roy Mustang now as he stands at the grave of his best friend.





	Gone

**Author's Note:**

> A very short drabble inspired by @fma-angst-week on Tumblr!
> 
> Day 4 - Death/Sacrifice
> 
> Note: Some dialogue taken straight from the episode of FMAB.

 

**Gone**

Roy stands at the grave of his friend. He’ll never see his daughter grow up. He’ll never tease Roy about finding a wife again. A lump is forming in his throat and he swallows it. This is the first time he has been faced with the incontrovertible proof of it: Hughes’ coffin being lowered into the ground, Gracia crying and Elicia wailing. Hughes is gone. **  
**

There is a way to bring him back, if only he can figure it out. If two precocious kids could get close, then …

Water, sulphur, ammonia-

He shakes his head. No. Human transfiguration doesn’t work.

But what if it did? What if he can figure out what those boys had missed?

Salt, lime, phosphorus, saltpeter. What else? What was missing?

No! His fists clench. Even if he were to succeed Hughes could come back wrong. He couldn’t care less about the repercussions for himself but he couldn't do that to Hughes, to Gracia or Elicia.

He forces himself to read the inscription on the tombstone.

“Promoted to Brigadier General just for dying in the line of duty. You were supposed to be helping me work my way up through the ranks. You got it all backwards, you damn crazy fool.”

He recognises Riza’s tread before she utters, “Colonel.”

He turns his head slightly as she reaches him.

He looks forward again. “Alchemists as a whole, we really are horrible creatures, aren’t we? There’s a part of me that’s desperately trying to crack the theories of human transmutation right now. I think I understand what drove those boys when they-” his voice breaks, “tried to bring back their mother.”

“Are you all right, Colonel?”

Of course, he isn’t. It’s his fault Hughes is gone, he has no doubt.

He takes his hat from under his arm. “Yeah - I’m fine.” He puts it on his head and closes his eyes. “Except it’s a terrible day for rain.”

“But what do you mean?” Riza asks, “it’s not raining.”

He tilts his head, tears falling. “Yes, it is.”

“So, it is. Why don’t we head back? It’s getting chilly out here.”

He opens his eyes again and nods.

He pulls his shoulders up. “Lieutenant, we’re going to retrace his steps. I want to know why he was so desperate to reach me.”

“Yes, sir.”

He’s going to find out who’s responsible for this and then he’s going to end them.

Fin


End file.
